Projects &Initiatives

Invest In Texas

Invest in Texas is a student-led non-partisan campaign dedicated to advocating for UT and other higher education students across the state of Texas to the Texas state legislature. Invest in Texas, which is made up of Student Government, the Senate of College Councils, the Graduate Student Assembly, and 25 sponsoring student organizations from across campus, fought to make UT affordable, competitive, and safe by bringing a student voice to the legislature. This included pushing lawmakers to adequately fund UT, maintain current levels of financial aid, allow universities to provide health insurance benefits to all graduate fellows, and to keep guns out of our classrooms.

During the past legislative session, hundreds of students went to hearings and committee meetings and marched to the capitol as part of the Invest in Texas Legislative Day. During the Legislative Day, Invest in Texas held a press conference in which students leaders, as well as Representatives Dan Branch and Joaquin Castro and Senator Judy Zaffirini, spoke about the importance of funding higher education and addressing the needs and concerns of students. Also during the Legislative Day, University of Texas students met with the office of every Representative and Senator at the Texas capitol to bring student concerns directly to every lawmaker. Students also sent over 1,000 postcards to their hometown Representatives and Senators in support of the Invest in Texas platform.

Invest in Texas was first founded by student-leaders Jimmy Talarico, Chelsea Adler, and Muneezeh Kabir. The campaign is currently directed by Student Government President Kori Rady, Senate of College Councils President Geetika Jerath and Graduate Student Assembly President Brian Wilkey.

An informational session regarding Invest in Texas will be held in the SAC Legislative Assembly Room (SAC. 2.302) on Sunday, September 9 at 5:00 p.m. Applications for a position on the Operational Committee are due to investintexascampaign@gmail.com on Monday, September 24 by 5:00 p.m. Interviews will be conducted on Saturday, September 15 and Sunday, September 16.